Resume templates

My old resume is built on a ****** template. Can anyone recommend a clean, simple, professional template?

A picture of a general layout or whatever would also be fine, I just need something to model it on.

I like mine but I just copied it from a buddy. Let me look for a template.

Put your education first, then internships or work experience. I forget what font mine is in.

Just make your own. Shouldn't be too hard. http://www.lifeclever.com/give-your-resume-a-face-lift/ There was another webpage I used to help me, but I don't remember where it is. I've been thinking about redesigning my resume. Need to learn how to create LaTeX document classes though so I can change things more easily.

I attempted to upload an edited version of my resume but it was exceeded the size limit so let's scratch that.

Go to your school's career center for help putting one together. Afterwards, get in contact with any mentors you have or contact alumni through your school's alumni network (will probably have a web database avalable - check the career center). Seek out people in the industry you are pursuing or at least have solid work experience under their belt. They will offer invaluable help you cant get on a web forum.

BUt while I'm at it here goes:

Top should be your information: Full name, address, email and phone number. Make sure your email is professional (no silly names or nicknames. Just your full name or school email)

Next is Education: Highlight College you are attending, major, current gpa. If you dont have much work experience use up some space listing some particular projects and research papers you have done (especially if they are related to job you are pursuing) and maybe some commendations.

Next is work experience: list 3 or 4 of the most recent internships/jobs you have helf. 3-6 bullet points per job depending on how good/challenging it was. List be relevance not chronological.

Finally is extra curriculars/activities you have been involved in: List any groups you are a member of anything significant you have done with them: community service, fund raisers, leadership roles. Hell, list some hobbies if you have room.

The resume should be very clean and easy to glance through. Bullet points for each entry should be kept to one line (anything that is more than 1.5 lines can be broken into two). Don't forget most people will not examine your resume closely unless they feel you have high prospects so it has to be high quality (filler should still hold value) but still easy to glance through to get a gist of your experience. Use you cover letter to paint a better picture of your experience and why you are pursuing a position.

You can put together a rough draft and then send it to me to look through if you like. I could forward you a copy of mine for reference.

Ultimately, you should build your own network of personal contacts who can help you through this as well (TAP THAT ALUMNI NETWORK AND USE CAREER SERVICES!)

What type of job are you seeking? That plays a role in the 'type' of resume you would submit. If you have Microsoft Word, it has numerous resume templates from which you can choose. If you select New, Resume/CV - they have a job specific resume section that has numerous templates that look good -- choose the one that you like best. If you want, you can send me your resume and I will review/proofread it for you... I see a ton of them each month (even when I am not hiring anyone, I still review incoming resumes and notify HR of ones I want to 'keep' for when I do have an opening).

Basically, a 'professional' resume follows this outline:

Contact Information
Objective - yes, you must first tell them what type of job for which you are applying; this is the professional intent/interests area
Technical Skills/Proficiencies - bullet points to indicate job specific skillsets
Experience - start/end date, company name, city/state, position description and main responsibilities (if you do not have much relevant experience, put education above this section)
Education - school name, city, degree, area of study
Awards/Accomplishments - list industry/job specific awards/accomplishments/trade association memberships, etc; if you won an award in middle school, unfortunately it has no relevance and cannot be included....

Originally Posted by AintDatRite

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Contact Information
Objective - yes, you must first tell them what type of job for which you are applying; this is the professional intent/interests area
Technical Skills/Proficiencies - bullet points to indicate job specific skillsets
[

Unless you are applying for a very technical field I would get rid of the Technical skills/proficiencies section. If you have a typed up resume and are in university people can presume you know how to use a MS Office (excel, word, powerpoint). If you are emailing your resume they can also presume you know how to use the internet. Maybe if you are applying for a research analyst/associate position you can list your experience with various research databases.

Objective is a waste of space. That's what cover letters are for.

I found a template from MS Office online a while ago, it proved to be rather useful. I think it was under the Professional Resume section, sorry I can't be more specific.

Full disclosure: I am a recruiter.

Originally Posted by Jodum5

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Unless you are applying for a very technical field I would get rid of the Technical skills/proficiencies section. If you have a typed up resume and are in university people can presume you know how to use a MS Office (excel, word, powerpoint). If you are emailing your resume they can also presume you know how to use the internet. Maybe if you are applying for a research analyst/associate position you can list your experience with various research databases..

I would include "Highlights of Qualifications" or something similar. This can be an overview of two or three major assets or accomplishments you bring to the table, in three or four relevant skill areas (e.g. communication, leadership, quantitative analysis, contract law).

If your only software experience is MS Office, don't include it unless you're an expert or unless the position explicitly calls for it (then it can't hurt). Give some sort of assessment of how you would rate yourself. Include other software (SAP, SPSS, Adobe products, etc.), if they are relevant.

Originally Posted by Jodum5

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Objective is a waste of space. That's what cover letters are for.

Agreed. Objectives are never properly written these days. "To find a good job" or "to find a supportive, nurturing environment where I can advance in my chosen career" are total horseshat.

Originally Posted by crazyquik

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Put your education first, then internships or work experience. I forget what font mine is in.

Unless you are fresh out of school, with little work experience, and are applying for a position in exactly the field you studied (e.g. mechanical engineering grad applying for a junior mechanical engineering role), put your work experience first. In the same instance, don't include irrelevant work experience (working at a coffee shop). Hopefully you've done something professional and/or relevant.

Within education, do include your accomplishments - independent studies, capstone projects, internships, awards, your GPA.

Originally Posted by chrome_dout

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I found a template from MS Office online a while ago, it proved to be rather useful. I think it was under the Professional Resume section, sorry I can't be more specific.

Don't use MS Office templates. Again, don't use MS Office templates.

+1 on the above.

Font should be arial or times new roman. no funny colors or any colors for that matter apart from black text white background. you can bold, italicize, underline things but all in the name of organization and not to spice it up.

Just to reiterate again work with alumni and your career services dept (if in college) or even friends who know their **** when it comes to career development to create your initial resume. from then on it's easy maintaining it.

Originally Posted by Jodum5

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..

Font should be arial or times new roman. no funny colors or any colors for that matter apart from black text white background. you can bold, italicize, underline things but all in the name of organization and not to spice it up. ...

I have to disagree a bit on this one. I just got hired (today) for a marketing job, and I made my resume in Adobe Illustrator with a lot of blue and a few graphic elements. I generally emailed it to the hiring managers in PDF form. I got comments from almost everyone that contacted me back on how they liked how my resume was different, and how it stood out. I'd say about 2/3 of the people I sent it to commented on it. This is obviously very industry specific (wouldn't fly for an engineer or accountant) and wouldn't work using some online hiring forms that require word doc's, but it helped me get noticed. I didn't use a template, and it took me a while to construct the resume, but the time payed off for me.

Hm, well I stand corrected. However, I tend to try to stay on the conervative side design-wise especially because it's more likely that a resume with flair will turn off more people than those who are attracted to it.

Originally Posted by Jodum5

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Objective is a waste of space. That's what cover letters are for.

Really? At last count, I have 32 resumes on my desk for review. NONE have a cover letter attached. By the time HR sends them to me, the cover letter has long disappeared... which is fine with me. If the cover letter was attached, I would simply discard it. I am only interested in the resume/curriculum vitae; I have no desire or time to read through all of the 'nice' letters people send with their resumes. I simply scan the resumes for relevant information: education and job history with specific experience. The resumes are then separated into two sets: potential and trash (which I immediately shred). Those deemed 'potential' are set on a side table in my office; my managers come in and review them and write comments on them, etc. Everyone has input on whom should be invited in for interviews - which are done by committee (minimum of 2 managers and 3 employees).

One of the 'better' resumes I received lately had everything I/we wanted: experience, skillsets, continuing education, etc. Only one problem: on a two page resume, his name/number were no where to be found. I assume he 'included' the cover letter as page 1 of his resume and didnt feel it necessary to put his name on every page. Oh well... in this economy we are receiving about 300 resumes a week.

Originally Posted by AintDatRite

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Really? At last count, I have 32 resumes on my desk for review. NONE have a cover letter attached. By the time HR sends them to me, the cover letter has long disappeared... which is fine with me. If the cover letter was attached, I would simply discard it. I am only interested in the resume/curriculum vitae; I have no desire or time to read through all of the 'nice' letters people send with their resumes. I simply scan the resumes for relevant information: education and job history with specific experience. The resumes are then separated into two sets: potential and trash (which I immediately shred). Those deemed 'potential' are set on a side table in my office; my managers come in and review them and write comments on them, etc. Everyone has input on whom should be invited in for interviews - which are done by committee (minimum of 2 managers and 3 employees).

One of the 'better' resumes I received lately had everything I/we wanted: experience, skillsets, continuing education, etc. Only one problem: on a two page resume, his name/number were no where to be found. I assume he 'included' the cover letter as page 1 of his resume and didnt feel it necessary to put his name on every page. Oh well... in this economy we are receiving about 300 resumes a week.

I could comment on each of your points, but it's not necessary. Your approach works for you. I understand your perspective on cover letters - too many folks don't know how to write these either, and they become fluff. However, I would still rather not see an objective, because they're a million times worse. As for the contact information, yes, I've seen similar things. Contact details should be on every page of the resume.

FTR, I review several hundred resumes per week.

I will say that I advise my clients to have three staff members present at interviews. To me, five is overwhelming. I was once interviewed by a panel of 20 - that was absurd, and I told them once I was hired.

Originally Posted by Jodum5

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Font should be arial or times new roman. no funny colors or any colors for that matter apart from black text white background. you can bold, italicize, underline things but all in the name of organization and not to spice it up.

Agreed - keep it simple. I prefer serif fonts.

Originally Posted by kever

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I have to disagree a bit on this one. I just got hired (today) for a marketing job, and I made my resume in Adobe Illustrator with a lot of blue and a few graphic elements. I generally emailed it to the hiring managers in PDF form. I got comments from almost everyone that contacted me back on how they liked how my resume was different, and how it stood out. I'd say about 2/3 of the people I sent it to commented on it. This is obviously very industry specific (wouldn't fly for an engineer or accountant) and wouldn't work using some online hiring forms that require word doc's, but it helped me get noticed. I didn't use a template, and it took me a while to construct the resume, but the time payed off for me.

This is the only case where this would work, and it won't always necessarily work even here. Many companies use applicant tracking systems (PeopleSoft, Hiredesk) that extract data from resumes and dump it into a database. These systems run into trouble when they hit data that is not listed in a way they understand (i.e. tables, text boxes, etc.). I would advise all but the most specific candidates to stick with a DOC file, or PDF or plain text if instructed. When I hire designers, graphic specialists or architects, I expect their creative talent to come through in an attached visual portfolio. Their resume needs to follow the same basic technical layout as any other.